Prototype Pattern
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Source: Victor Bona's Obsidian Compendium snapshot, Knowledge base/Design Patterns/Prototype Pattern.md.
(Note: Prototype is less commonly used in everyday backend work but worth knowing.)
The Prototype pattern creates new objects by cloning an existing object, known as the prototype. This is handy when object creation is expensive, and you want to copy pre-configured objects. In languages like JavaScript, where objects are inherently prototype-based, this pattern is a native concept. In class-based languages, it involves implementing a cloning interface. The cloned object can then be modified without affecting the original.
- Intent: Specify the kinds of objects to create using a prototypical instance, and create new objects by copying this prototype.
- Use Case: When the cost of creating a new object is high (e.g., setting up a complex object graph), or to avoid subclassing by configuring an initial object and then cloning it to produce new variations.